Buried Innocence - A Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery - Book Thirteen (Mary O'Reilly Paranormal Mystery Series) (4 page)

“Hey sweetheart,
how was your trip to Galena?” Bradley asked as Mary walked into the house.

“Well, it was
very…interesting, to say the least,” she replied, placing her purse and
briefcase on the hall table before she walked over and slipped her arms around
him. He wrapped his arms around her and held her for a moment, placing a kiss
on the top of her head.

“Not interesting in
a good way,” he murmured as he continued to hold her.

Sighing softly, she
snuggled closer, comforted by his scent and the strong beat of his heart. “I am
always amazed at how depraved this world can be,” she said. “It’s a scary place
out there.”

He placed his cheek
on the top of her head and was silent for a moment. Finally, he spoke. “There
are bad things out there, and in our jobs we tend to see more than most
people,” he agreed. “But I think it’s important that we remember that the good
guys still outnumber the bad ones.”

She nodded against
his chest. “She was five or six,” she whispered.
“Only a few
years younger than Clarissa.
Whoever killed her beat her first, then
strangled her, and then finally crushed her skull.”

She could feel
Bradley’s arms unconsciously tightening around her. “How can I help?” he
asked,
his voice tight with anger.

She slipped her
arms up around his neck and tiptoed so she could cover his mouth with her own.
He pulled her closer and returned her kiss, offering comfort and passion
simultaneously.

“You already have
helped,” she whispered against his lips. “Just understanding, being angry too.
It helps.”

He hugged her
tightly and then released her. “Now, to more practical matters,” he said, his
voice tender with love. “Have you eaten anything lately?”

She shook her head.
“I was going to eat, but we had another encounter that sort of turned my
stomach,” she said. “But really, I’m starving now.”

“Great,” he
replied, pleased by her response, “because Clarissa and I went to This Is It
Eatery, and we brought you home take-out.”

He hurried back
into the kitchen and pulled a white
styrofoam
carton
from the countertop and carried it back. Then he unlatched the lid from the
bottom and let it flip open of its own accord. “Look! Ribs!” he declared.
“Your favorite.”

Mary looked at the
meat hanging off the bones lying in the bottom of the container, the mottled
red barbecue sauce slathered across the ribs, and instantly the image of the
ghost in Galena came to mind. She clapped her hand over her mouth and dashed to
the bathroom.

Bradley stared
after Mary in confusion. “What? I thought you liked ribs!” he called after her.

Mike appeared
behind Bradley, peeked over his shoulder and saw the offered dinner. “Not a
good choice today,” he said, shaking his head in sympathy.
“Just
not a good choice.”

A few minutes
later, Mary, a little worse for wear, stumbled out of the bathroom with a wan
smile on her face. “Sorry. Just a bad day for ribs,” she managed.

Bradley came forward,
put his arm around her shoulders and led her to the kitchen table. “Yeah, Mike
told me,” he said. “Sorry about that.”

She sat down and
shrugged. “How were you supposed to know I’d had a personal encounter with a
ghostly half-rack?” she asked.
“Just bad timing.
That’s all.”

He placed a hot cup
of tea in front of her and handed her a chocolate protein bar. “Here,” he said.
“Eat this. It will get protein into your body, and you don’t have to smell it.”

Unwrapping
the bar, she took a bite and smiled at him. “Thanks. This is just what I
needed,” she said, feeling the queasiness subsiding.

He sat down next to
her, watching her as she finished the bar and then spoke. “So, do you want to
talk about the other ghost?” he asked.

“No, not yet,” she
said, shaking her head. “I’d really like to check on Clarissa and then soak in
the tub for a little while.”

Leaning over her,
he pressed a kiss on her forehead and nodded. “But remember, you can’t have the
water—”

“Too hot,” she
inserted, looking up at him and shaking her head. “Yes, Papa Bradley, I’ll be
sure to follow doctor’s orders.”

He grinned,
slightly embarrassed. “Okay, maybe I’m a little overprotective,” he said.

She stood up and
pressed her lips to his. “You are just perfect,” she said. “I don’t mind a
little pampering.”

Holding her close,
he just held her for a moment. “I’ll remember that when you start complaining,”
he whispered.

“Well, okay,” she
admitted with a half giggle, half sigh. “I’ll change it to ‘I don’t mind a
little pampering on my terms.’”

Chuckling, he
kissed the top of her head and stepped away. “Too late,” he said. “The words
have already been spoken.”

He picked up her
cup of tea and handed it to her. “Now go on up and visit with Clarissa,” he
said. “I know she’s waiting up for you. I’ll bring you a refill for your tea in
a few minutes.”

“Thanks,” she
replied. “I’ll see you upstairs.”

Mary could hear
voices when she got to the top of the stairs. She walked softly to the door of
Clarissa’s bedroom, paused, and listened, not wanting to interrupt anything
important.

“But you still
haven’t answered my question,” Clarissa said, exasperation evident in her young
voice. “Where do babies come from?”

“Well, I really
think that’s a question for your mom or dad,” Mike nervously replied. “It’s not
something you should discuss with your guardian angel, especially me.”

“You know, don’t
you?” she asked.

Mike paused, and
Mary stifled a laugh.

“Well, yeah, I
know,” he admitted.

“So, why won’t you
tell me?” Clarissa demanded. “Didn’t you tell me that I could ask you
anything?”

“Well, yeah, I
did,” Mike said. “But this is kind of different, sweetheart.”

“Why?” Clarissa
asked.

Deciding it was
time to rescue
Mike,
Mary pushed the door open and let
herself into the bedroom. “Hi sweetie,” she said, going over to the bed and
giving Clarissa a hug. “How was your day?”

Clarissa hugged her
back. “It was great,” she said. “Dad and I had a great meeting, and then we ate
dinner at This Is It Eatery. And I got deep fried cookies and ice cream for
dessert.”

“Wow,” Mary
replied, sitting back and enjoying the excited look on her daughter’s face.
“That sounds amazing.”

Clarissa nodded.
“And then we went to the library, and Dad let me take out five new books.”

“Well, that’s
great,” Mary said.

“And I signed up
for a summer reading program,” Clarissa continued. “I can win a prize if I read
enough books this summer.”

“I think that’s
awesome,” Mary said. “Reading was one of my favorite summertime activities. You
can have a new adventure every day.”

“Yes, and I even
got a book about babies,” she said, reaching over and pulling out a slim
hardcover book from a pile of books on her nightstand. She handed the book to
Mary. “See.”

Mary opened the
book and flipped through the pages. There were pictures of babies inside their
mothers’ wombs at different stages of development. “This is really cool,” Mary
said, looking at a photo that represented the development of her baby at
twenty-two weeks. “This is the size of our baby.”

Clarissa scooted
over and looked at the book. “It’s so tiny,” she said.

Mary nodded,
looking at the information below the photo. “It says that the baby is only
eleven inches long and is able to hear sounds now,” she said.

“The baby can hear
me?” Clarissa
asked,
her eyes wide with wonder. “Can I
talk to the baby?”

“Sure,” Mary
replied.

The little girl
leaned over and placed her head on Mary’s stomach. “Hi. I’m your big sister,”
she said. “My name is Clarissa, and when you are born, we’re going to be
friends.”

Mary felt tears
welling in her eyes as she looked down at Clarissa snuggled against her. She
placed her hand on the child’s head and gently stroked her hair. “I’m sure the
baby can’t wait to meet you,” she whispered.

“Mary, I asked
Mike, but he wouldn’t tell me,” she said. “How do babies get inside your body?”

“That’s easy,” Mary
said, sending Mike a smile. “Love puts them in there.”

“Oh,” Clarissa
replied. “That’s nice.”

Mary pulled
Clarissa into her arms and hugged her. “Yes, that’s really nice,” she said,
cuddling the little girl. “And now you have to go to sleep because you’ve got a
busy day playing with Maggie tomorrow.”

Clarissa yawned
widely. “Okay, I guess I am kind of tired,” she admitted.

“Yeah, me too,”
Mary agreed, guiding Clarissa onto her pillow. “So, you go to sleep, and I’ll
go to sleep. And then tomorrow we can wake up and have a great breakfast.”

Snuggling deeper
into her blankets, Clarissa yawned again. “That’s a great idea,” she said
sleepily. “And know what?”

“What?” Mary asked,
standing up and tucking the little girl in.

“We could have
waffles for breakfast,” she said.

“I think waffles
for breakfast is a great idea,” Mary agreed. “With strawberries and whipped
cream.”

Clarissa turned
from her pillow, looked up at Mary and smiled. “That would be the best
breakfast ever.”

Mary leaned over
and kissed Clarissa on her forehead. “Then we should definitely have waffles.
Good night, sweetheart. I love you.”

“Good night, Mary,”
Clarissa replied, her voice heavy with sleep. “I love you, too.”

Mary switched off
the light and closed the door behind her. Mike met her in the hallway. “You
handled her question really well,” he said. “I had no idea what to say.”

Mary shrugged.
“Well, I have a feeling that the same conversation is going to have a different
set of answers in a couple of years,” she said as she walked down the hall
towards her bedroom.

“Yeah, well, good
luck with that,” Mike said. Then he looked down at her. “So, how are you
feeling?”

“Actually, I’m
feeling better,” she said. “Although a nice warm bath sounds like heaven.”

“Okay, I’ll let you
go,” he said, starting to fade away. “Are you sure you don’t need anything?”

“I’m good, but
thanks for worrying, Mike,” she said with a smile.

“Hey, I’m real good
at worrying,” he replied, and then he slipped from view. “Especially about
people I love.”

Mary woke up and
reached for her phone lying on the nightstand to check the time. It was 2:30 in
the morning and, as usual, she had to go to the bathroom. She started to slide
out of the covers when she glanced at the end of her bed and froze. The ghost
she had met on the street in Galena was sitting at the end of her bed.

“You can see me?”
he asked, repeating his question from earlier.

Mary nodded, trying
not to wake Bradley who was sleeping beside her. “Yes,” she whispered. “I can
see you.”

“I’m down there,”
he said. “I can’t remember what happened. But I’m down there.”

“Down where?” Mary
asked. “Where are you?”

“It’s dark and
quiet, too quiet,” he said, his voice dropping to a whisper. “They can’t hear
me. No one can hear me. I’ve yelled and screamed, but no one hears me.”

“What’s your name?”
Mary asked.

The ghost paused
for a moment, searching for the answer to the question. “I remember,” he said
slowly, “someone calling me Steve. I think my name is Steve.”

“Do you remember
your last name?”

He paused again,
and after a few silent moments, shook his head. His face held even more anguish
than before. “No,” he said, his voice breaking with emotion. “I can’t remember
my last name.”

“That’s okay,
Steve,” Mary reassured him. “That’s really a normal occurrence.”

“Normal
occurrence?” he asked, clearly confused.
“Normal for what?”

Later, Mary would
look back at the moment she answered Steve’s question and blame her quick
response on the fact that her bladder was near to exploding. “Normal for when
you’re dead,” she replied.

His eyes widened,
and his lips quivered with emotion. “I’m dead?” he asked, horrified. “I died?”

Biting her lower
lip with regret, she slowly nodded her head. “I’m so sorry, Steve,” she said.
“I should have handled that in a different way. But, yes, you are dead.”

He shook his head.
“No, I can’t be dead,” he argued, his voice
raised
in
anger. “I’m a dad. I have responsibilities. My kids need me. I need to be
alive.”

Mary just waited
for him to finish, silently praying he would hurry.

Suddenly he stopped
and stared at her. “You’re lying to me,” he screamed. “You’re a liar. I’m
getting out of here. You’re nothing but a liar.”

“Wait, Steve,” Mary
called. But he disappeared, and she was left staring into the darkened room.

“Mary? Mary? Are
you okay?” Bradley murmured, half-awake.

She placed her hand
on his arm to reassure him. “Yes, I’m fine,” she whispered. “I just have to go
to the bathroom.”

“Oh, okay,” he
muttered, then turned on his side and went back to sleep.

She got up and
walked over to the bathroom, regretting her thoughtless words. A few minutes
later, she carefully let herself out of her bedroom, closing the door carefully
so she didn’t wake Bradley. She turned into the hall and nearly ran into Mike.

“I heard,” he said
without any explanation.

She sighed and
leaned against the wall. “So, you know that I was totally self-absorbed and didn’t
even think that I was giving him the worst news of his entire life.”

“No, I saw a woman
who took the time, even though she was uncomfortable, to speak with someone in
pain,” he replied.

Shaking her head,
she wiped the tears filling her eyes. “No, Mike, you’re just being nice to me,”
she said. “I was thoughtless and abrupt. I know better than that.”

“Unlike me, you’re
human,” he said with a gentle smile. “And you get to make mistakes. Of course,
as you probably guessed, even as a human I didn’t make mistakes.”

She rewarded him
with a watery chuckle. “Mike, you can’t believe everything your mom used to
tell you,” she responded automatically.

“See, there’s my
Mary back in fighting form,” he said with a laugh. “So, what do you say we go
downstairs and grab some milk and cookies? Bradley forgot to mention that he
picked up several of your favorite kinds today.”

“Mike, as much as
I’d like to believe it, cookies do not solve the problems of the world.”

“Yeah, I know,” he
admitted. “But they sure help when the going gets rough.”

Pausing for a
moment, undecided, she weighed her options. She really should go back to bed
just in case Steve decided to come back. Of course, it was highly unlikely that
Steve would come back that night, or any night, she recalled sadly. Then her
stomach growled, and she realized she had only eaten a protein bar for dinner.
And really, cookies and milk sounded really good. She turned to Mike. “What
kind of cookies?” she finally asked.

Grinning, he
floated towards the stairs and nodded towards the kitchen. “Why don’t we both
go downstairs and find out,” he suggested.

She pushed up from
the wall and shrugged. “Sure, why not?”

By the time she
reached the kitchen, Mike already had a glass of milk poured for her and was
pulling containers of cookies from the pantry. He looked over his shoulder and
motioned with a box of cookies. “Have a seat at the table,” he directed. “I’m
almost done here.”

She looked over to
the counter to see a stack of six different containers of cookies. “Mike, I
only want one or two of them,” she said.

He turned and
placed the final two containers on the top of the stack and carried them to the
table. “Sure, one or two of each kind,” he said. “Mary, you have to remember.
You’re eating for two.”

“Mike, I’m having a
baby, not a litter,” she complained.

Placing the
assortment in front of her, he glided into the chair next to her and then
rested his chin on his hands. “Come on, Mary,” he coaxed. “Tell Uncle Mike
what’s wrong.”

Ripping open a
package of sandwich cookies, she pulled one out and bit down ferociously.
“Mike, this isn’t funny,” she exclaimed as she chewed.

“I didn’t say it
was,” he replied, leaning closer. “Have you always felt that you had to be
perfect?”

“I’m not perfect,”
she replied. “I never said I was perfect.”

She absently pulled
out another cookie and bit into it. “I just said that I was wrong to tell Steve
that he was dead.”

“Was he?” Mike
asked.

“Was he what?” she
asked.

“Was he dead?”

“He’s a ghost. Of
course he’s dead.”

“So, you didn’t
lie, right?

She sat back in her
chair and shook her head. “No, I didn’t lie,” she acknowledged. “But I wasn’t
careful with his feelings.”

“Come on, Mary,” he
coaxed. “Tell me what’s really wrong?”

She picked out
another cookie, toyed with it for a few moments and finally nibbled on the
edge. “I wanted him to go away,” she confessed softly.

Mike lifted an
eyebrow. “Say what?”

“I wanted him to go
away,” she repeated, not meeting his eyes. “I just wanted to be able to get up,
go to the bathroom and go back to bed without someone hanging around telling me
about their problems.”

“Damn Mary, you
really aren’t perfect,” he said.

She slammed the
cookie onto the table, breaking it into a dozen smaller pieces. “Well, thanks,”
she snapped. “I guess not everyone can be an angel.”

When Mike chuckled,
she reached for an unopened bag of cookies to whip it at his head.

“You know the
cookies will fly right through me,” Mike said calmly before she could send them
in his direction.

She paused, looked
at the cookies in her hand, sighed and put them back on the table. “You’re
right,” she muttered, reaching for another cookie. “Why are you always right?”

“Yeah, you don’t
want me to answer that,” he said. “It will just make you angrier. Besides, I
was just teasing you. You know I think you’re absolutely
perfect,
and cute too.”

His flattery did
nothing to improve her mood. This time she placed her chin in her hands and
sighed again. “I’m such a terrible person,” she whimpered. “I mean, he’s dead
and he’s stuck somewhere, and all I can think about is going to the bathroom.
What does that make me?”

“A totally
exhausted, pregnant woman who needs a good night’s sleep,” Mike said. Then
reaching over, he placed his hand on her shoulder.
“And a
woman who is trying to be brave even when her heart is breaking over a little
girl who was abused and murdered.”

A tear slipped down
Mary’s cheek. “It was like Clarissa was standing in front of me,” she
whispered. “If we hadn’t found Clarissa, it could have been her.”

“But it wasn’t
Clarissa,” he reminded her. “And there is nothing you can do to change that
little girl’s life. But you can help her by finding out what’s keeping here her
and then helping her move on. That’s your job, not fixing all the ills of the
world.”

Folding her arms,
she laid her head on the table. “I know,” she said. “But this time, I wish
there was some way to change things.”

“Mary, once you
help her cross over, you
have
changed things,” he
reminded her. “She gets to go home and be surrounded with love.”

She nodded slowly
and yawned. “You’re right.”

“And, I think it’s
time we change the rules again,” he said.

Lifting her head,
she looked up at him. “Change the rules?”

“Yeah, I think we
need to keep your bedroom off limits for a little while,” he said. “At least
until after the baby is born. You need more sleep.”

“Really?” she
asked, her voice tinged with excitement. “You think we could change that?”

He smiled at her.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure we can make that change,” he said. “So, why don’t you go
to bed, and I’ll get things arranged.”

Pushing herself up
from her chair, she looked down at him. “Thank you,” she said. “You are the
best friend I’ve ever had.”

“I feel the same
way about you,” he replied. “Now go to bed and let Uncle Mike take care of
things here.”